Prolyte Campus blog: Define or Divide

We have lots of misunderstandings in our business. It often starts with ignoring to read the ****ing manual, it ends with conjuring up whatever name we can think off for a particular component. It took three decades to finally get rid of the term ‘inverted’ in rigging. Say ‘coupler’, and our business is divided into those who think ‘scaff-clamp’ and those who think ‘bi-conical connector’. Get rid of couplers and use clamps and connectors.

The issue: When is a lighting plot a lighting plot. Is this one below fitting that name?

Probably not – if it pops up on the Dodgy Technicians page on Facebook. Define what information you expect to find in a Rigging Plot, or in a “Master Rigging Plot”.

Even some of our professional industry magazines can occasionally be misleading. Is this because their source has no clue?

The answer: As a rigger I have no clue what should be in a lighting plot (or what should not be in). And the same applies for a sound plot – if they do exist at all. LOL. But any rigger knows the difference between a trussing plot and a rigging plot. And I sincerely hope that professionals in our sector do know the difference between chain motors and trusses…

The verdict: We all know that only a specific type of traffic lights will give a feeling of “this is safe”. I am not so sure about these (see picture). So we expect traffic lights all over the world to be the same. The world defines orientation, position, shape and colour. It helps in saving lives and prevents accidents. Lets do a similar job in our trade – at least in rigging. Lets get information (drawings, symbols etc.) standardized. Lets do that for the capacities for truss-types, and for (truss-) slinging methods. And let us define what is meant by a ‘secondary’ or a ‘safety’.And then after all of that is done, we can start talking about the requirements and Factor(s) of Safety.